Dear Editor,
It is truly disturbing to observe the number of letters and complaints appearing in the media regarding noise nuisance. More and more persons are afflicted by noise and it seems as though our cries are falling on deaf ears. In particular, a hotel bar and a disco at Charity which are right under the nose of the Charity Police Station, close to the Roman Catholic Church and a short distance from the Charity Cottage Hospital, are a source of unrelenting, pounding noise. In addition, on holidays permission is given to persons to hold open air functions on the car park tarmac and this adds further to the thunderous noise in Charity.
It is difficult to comprehend how the responsible authorities could give permission to hold open air functions with large music boxes so close to the places mentioned above and other residents living so close. As if the constant banging of loud music is not enough, you have private cars with powerful music boxes that play their music any time of the day or night. These people have no respect for the residents in this area and their right to a quiet atmosphere. It appears that the owners and workers at these locations are now deaf and too damaged to even comprehend the agony which is faced by residents on a daily basis.
We are sure that laws are in place for dealing with such activities. Legislation against noise nuisance should be enforced so that persons suffering can have some semblance of quiet in their environment. Numerous complaints were made to the Charity Police Station, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Charity Urasara Neighbour-hood Democratic Council. So far, the noise continues with no ease whatsoever. Apparently, the noisemakers are above the law or the constant stream of complaints is not serious enough for the authorities to act upon. It is not just frustrating and irritating, but very unhealthy for us to be exposed to this nuisance. Members of some of our families suffer from various kind of illness and the noise definitely militates against improvement in their health, since we cannot get the rest democratically due to us and others.
It is totally unfair for hardworking, law-abiding citizens to be persistently harassed by noise nuisance. The elderly, children and homeowners are forced to endure this abhorrent hammering and pounding without any satisfactory measures from those in charge to alleviate their anguish.
Don’t we have a right to peace and comfort in our homes any more? When will this lawless and irresponsible behaviour stop? We hope the authorities finally act in accordance with their duty to protect sufferers of this form of mental torture. Our suggestion is to give the police the power to prosecute these law-breakers and equip the police with noise-measuring instruments to which we are willing to subscribe.
Yours faithfully,
Fr Humberto Villa, IVE
Fr Hugo Cardenas
J Benn
W Patrick
R Budhu and others
Editor’s note
We are sending a copy of this letter to Dr Indarjit Ramdass, Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency for any comment he might wish to make.
